This time of year, many businesses are having holiday parties. Often, these are at off-site venues like restaurants and hotels where employees can relax, enjoy a meal and a few drinks and maybe even dance or play games.
Increasingly, companies have been foregoing these end-of-year celebrations or at least keeping them in-house and alcohol free. That’s largely out of fear of liability – not just for drunk driving crashes that might occur on the way home, but for sexual harassment and even assault.
Some people think the rules don’t apply in other settings
Holiday parties as well as other employee activities outside of work too often lead people to behave inappropriately toward their colleagues, subordinates and even their managers. People too often don’t think that the rules around appropriate workplace behavior apply in more casual settings. That can be a dangerous mistake for everyone involved.
Certainly, employees aren’t expected to behave exactly as they would in the office or other work setting when they’re at a party, on the softball field, running a 10K or participating in a company volunteer day. However, behavior that violates an employee’s legal rights – like sexual harassment as well as racist or other discriminatory language – is still off-limits. Employers need to make that clear to everyone.
Employers’ obligations when this behavior occurs
Employees need to know that if they’re the victim of sexual harassment or other behavior at a party or any off-site work event that wouldn’t be allowed in the workplace, they can and should report it – just as they would if it happened in the workplace.
Managers as well as human resources professionals have an obligation to investigate any allegation of sexual misconduct or any wrongdoing by an employee, regardless of where and when it occurred, and to take appropriate disciplinary action against anyone who engaged in that activity. Further, they can’t retaliate against an employee for making a valid complaint.
If reporting the misconduct through the proper channels at work doesn’t provide a resolution, it can be worthwhile to get legal guidance to help protect your rights and your job.
